A just-for-fun survey suggests that three out of every 10 Americans have thought about going to Mars, and almost half of them have thought about it more seriously after the presidential election.
The finding come from an online survey conducted by Kelton Global to mesh with National Geographic Channel’s six-part TV miniseries, “Mars,” which finishes up with an episode premiering tonight.
The breakdown suggests that men give more thought to Mars trips than women, and that Millennials are more on board with the idea than baby boomers. Overall, 44 percent of the 1,024 survey respondents said they’re more likely to want to travel to Mars in the wake of last month’s election.
So who would they want to leave behind? Actually, President-elect Donald Trump was the most popular candidate on the survey’s list: He was chosen by 46 percent of those surveyed, with Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and Hillary Clinton close behind. (To be fair, the respondents could select more than one celebrity to drop off.)
There was also a list of potential traveling companions. Actress Jennifer Lawrence, who stars as a space traveler in the newly released movie “Passengers,” scored the highest overall. Twenty-two percent said they’d want to have her along for the ride. And as you’d expect, that figure was heavily skewed toward men. Oprah Winfrey was the favorite on the list for women (22 percent). George Clooney took second place on the ladies’ list with 21 percent.
Here are a few other factoids from the survey:
- Top theme song for a Mars trip: “Rocket Man” by Elton John (44 percent).
- Top snacks to bring along: Twinkies (30 percent), closely followed by Mars Bars (29 percent).
- Favorite sci-fi films for the trip: Star Wars (48 percent) beat out Star Trek (36 percent).
- What would you miss the most about Earth? 51 percent said they’d miss their families the most. Fifteen percent went with running water and hot showers.
- Which Star Wars character would you like to see at the controls? Han Solo (44 percent) was favored over Luke Skywalker (31 percent). Jar Jar Binks got 4 percent of the vote. Who are those people??
Kelton Global was commissioned by National Geographic to sample 1,024 Americans over the age of 18, resulting in responses with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent. The survey was conducted between Dec. 1 and 4, and used an email invitation and online survey. Quotas were set to ensure a reliable representation of the U.S. population.
